Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to a sheet feeding apparatus for feeding a sheet and an image forming apparatus including the sheet feeding apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, in an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, and a facsimile apparatus, a type including a sheet storage portion that is able to be mounted and pulled out from a front side of an image forming apparatus body is known. In order to increase the storage amount of sheets of a size that is frequently used, for example, such as an A4 size in a limited space, as illustrated in JP-A-2005-60054, there is an image forming apparatus including a tandem type sheet feeding apparatus in which sheet storage portions are disposed in parallel in a lateral direction.
As the sheet feeding apparatus, a sheet feeding apparatus including a first storage portion in which sheets are stacked, a feeding roller which feeds the sheets from the first storage portion, and a second storage portion which is disposed in a horizontal direction of the first storage portion is proposed. The sheet feeding apparatus includes a configuration of collectively transferring the sheets within the second storage portion to the first storage portion by a back fence (pressing plate) if the sheets stored in the first storage portion are fed and are depleted.
In a certain conventional sheet feeding apparatus, in a case in which a top sheet of sheets stored in the second storage portion is curled, there is a concern that the following problems may occur. That is, there is a concern that the top sheet of the second storage portion collides with the feeding roller in a condition in which a sheet bundle is transferred by the back fence. In this case, a path of the sheet colliding with the feeding roller is changed and the sheet may not be transferred to the first storage portion. Even if the sheet is transferred to the first storage portion, a disadvantage such as a leading end being damaged occurs and when feeding of the sheet is started by lifting a bottom plate of the first storage portion after completing the transfer, the possibility of a jam (sheet jam) occurring is increased.